A Cat's Territory
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: As a child, Selina Kyle looked out over the city of Gotham and vowed to plunder it. As an adult, she makes a new vow as she looks out over her territory.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Batman.

There are a few Gotham references, but this is not Gotham.

Please let me know what you think.

* * *

A Cat's Territory.

Sitting on a roof, Selina Kyle looked down at the street below.

The rooftop she was sitting on gave her the perfect vantage point over the street despite the vendors who sold their wares at their stalls to make a living for themselves. With trained eyes that she had worked long and hard to keep sharp, Selina spotted a man moving through the crowd; a great achievement since most of the street was in shadow and the only sources of light came from the street lamps which only provided just enough light for her to see with.

She liked what she was seeing.

The man was holding a large paper bag, but she had seen him stop by and pick up a bottle of milk.

Selina smiled.

She looked around the rooftop and saw the best way to reach him was to slide down a gentle roof slope, and with that, she'd have to grab hold of a lamp post and slide down that to reach the street. There was a van nearby, so she didn't have to worry much about being seen, Though truthfully that sort of thing never worried Selina, and she'd be behind the man. Her victim.

Selina watched from her position on the rooftop for a second before she slid down the lamp post and slid down it before she was on the street. Once she felt the soles of her feet touch the ground, she hurried after the man, relying on her small size to slip in through the crowd while she reached into her pocket to pull out her switchblade.

_The thing about Gotham, _she thought to herself as she hurried after her victim, _everyone in this place knows criminals lurk around every corner, and yet they don't really pay attention to their surroundings, and I can slip through almost like I'm a ghost. _

When she finally spotted the man who was moving through the marketplace and was only a short distance ahead of her, Selina moved towards him slowly. She wished there was someone nearby that she could use either as a shield or some kind of barrier so her newest victim wouldn't see her. When she had learnt how to become a pickpocket, Selina had worked out very quickly one of the best ways of getting away as if you had dozens of bodies in the way.

The subway was a perfect place for a pickpocket, a really perfect place. The platforms would be jam-packed with people you could just pick out and you'd have plenty more to block off sight from the victim so you'd get away with it. On the train, it was even better since everyone was packed into the carriages like sardines in a tin. In a crowded street, it was just as good.

In this case her victim had a few people between him and her, and the dim lighting gave her a real advantage, but Selina knew better than to underestimate some of Gothams' residents; this place was like a warzone, just without the excessive gun fighting, she just hoped this guy would get distracted quickly.

As she followed him through the busy market, Selina held back the urge to grin when she saw that he was slowing down, but as she got nearer she saw there was a large crowd just in front of him. She sped up; she had no idea just how far away this guy's home was, but she did not want to follow him across half of the city. She took out her switchblade, but she didn't flick out the blade until she thought it was ready; with so many people around her, someone might notice the knife blade and panic, or she would be suddenly pushed back by the crowd and the man she was after would get ahead of her and he'd have lost the chance to get close.

No, the best thing for her to do would be to wait; she just hoped she could.

A slow smile crossed her face when she caught up with him. He was still crowding around the stalls, but he wasn't buying anything while he held tightly onto the massive paper bag in his arms. Selina noticed that he was moving slowly through the crowd while he looked through the stalls for anything to add to his collection, but he was close enough for her to reach. Selina started heading to him, slowing down when she noticed much to her annoyance and disgust a number of people coming in both directions, blocking not just her access to the man she wanted to steal from, but also her view and made it difficult for her to see if he was even still there.

Selina cursed and slowed down while she tried to find a gap she could pass through but the new crowd seemed to have come out of nowhere, but it didn't take her long to find one, and when she did she cursed again. She could not help but feel slightly angry with the timing, though she had to concede she should have paid attention to both the victim and the crowd so it wouldn't have happened, it was too late now.

To Selina's relief, she caught up with him, noticing quickly that he seemed to have been slowed down by the crowd in turn. Selina quickened her pace; she had made the mistake of hanging back before, and she conceded she had been waiting for the right opportunity for too long, but she had been a street thief long enough to know you had to take your time.

Selina was learning to become a burglar, and she felt it was making her adopt a different thought process where she was forced to take her time, but she had to admit to herself while burglary was a slightly better form of theft because she had access to more things to steal, she needed to keep up her expertise with stealing from people on the streets.

She made a mental note to begin pickpocketing again and doing it frequently enough so then if she needed the skills she'd have them because if she had something and didn't have it if she suddenly needed it there was a good chance she'd be caught.

Selina knew many a thief had made mistakes and had gotten caught for their troubles simply because they had thought they'd had the knowledge to do what they needed to, only to discover they didn't. Only then it was too late.

Far too late and it got them either killed or caught.

Selina was practically on top of the man by the time she flicked out the switchblade and she slashed the man's paper bag's bottom and letting everything tumble out. The man yelled in shock while Selina merely stepped around him while being close enough to snag the bottle of milk before she let it accidentally crash to the ground.

Selina walked away, hoping to use the crowd to block off the view of her stealing the milk. She didn't really care if anyone saw her taking it, the marketplace was large and with so many cars and vans to the side, it was easy enough for her to slip out and she made sure that she did before she was spotted.

After going down an alleyway, she opened the bottle of milk and pulled out a small saucer and placed it on the ground before she whistled and a number of cats appeared. _This is my real family, _Selina thought to herself while she watched the cats mill about the saucer, lapping up some of the milk into their mouths. When they were finished, she topped up the supply and hoped they'd gotten enough before she moved on, smiling as she passed the cats.

She had no problem viewing them as her family; while she adored Holly and thought the world of a few others, Selina was very much a part of the cat family, they had accepted her so easily and she was grateful to them for that.

Scaling a wall, Selina patiently climbed to the top using a drainpipe before she moved onto a metal stairway which went up until she reached a rooftop. Once she was there, Selina stood and looked out over the city for a moment, admiring the view of the city; she knew some people who'd discover what she did might be surprised, as if she had never admired a view or was able to admire something so simple. But that wasn't the case; Selina enjoyed looking out over the city, especially when she was left on her own.

During the day, Gotham city was cramped with buildings that had been exposed to the elements until the concretes darkened with muck brought in from the bay, the bricks were worn smooth by the winds, and the bits of metal turned dark red with rust. All of the buildings were crammed in together, some of them looked like they only had a few feet between them, as if the builders who had spent so long putting them together had not bothered to think about the neighbouring towers until it as an afterthought and made changes at the last minute.

But at night…

Oh, how the city _gleamed _as individual lights on in various windows shone like diamonds or stars in space. Selina took out the bottle of milk and she opened it up and took a swig as she looked out over the city, ignoring the chill of the milk as it went down her throat.

Yeah, she liked the diamond simile, although the stars in space one were just as amazing since it made her feel small, made her want to go far, but the lights which shone like diamonds...One day she planned to steal them all.

Selina looked out over Gotham. It was her city. She didn't care what criminals like Maroni, Falcone, or Fish Mooney believed, the city was hers. She wasn't going to waste her life fighting one insignificant war after another, playing games with rivals and ensuring no-one tried to topple her.

She was a burglar, and in this place, she had a plethora of targets.

Selina took another sip of her milk, thinking about the grief taking place in the city ever since the Wayne's had been killed. She had never cared for the upper class of Gotham. They didn't own this place, she did. She was a cat, and she had to have a territory to protect and to plunder, but at the same time, she had no real desire to get involved with any of the bastards in the city who thought they owned it.

She raised her milk in a toast, mentally celebrating and counting down the days until she was old enough and experienced enough with burglary and robbery before she could steal those lights and claim them completely as her own within her territory.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Batman.

There are a few Gotham references like in the previous chapter, but this is not Gotham.

Please feel free to leave me some feedback.

* * *

A Cat's Territory.

After that night where she had promised to work hard and gain more experience as a burglar, so then she would steal all the lights of the city and claim them as her own, either as part of a collection of things she could sell-off.

And she had.

Granted, when Catwoman landed on top of the rooftop while she was trying to avoid Batman since she wasn't in the mood for his holier than thou crap, not tonight, she hadn't really expected to think much about that night, which had taken place so long ago, so long before so much of her life had been changed.

Back then, the hell that was No-Man's Land hadn't happened. Back then, Batman had not been around as a dark shadow, a spectre hovering around the city.

While she loved Bruce with all her heart although she loved playing mind games with him, although the Bruce Wayne whom she had met as a kid shortly after his parents had been murdered had fallen for some of the games although the Bruce Wayne she knew today no longer completely fell for them, she didn't want to keep running into him.

The problem with Bruce was he had a black and white view of the crime in the city. On the white you had him and the few cops who weren't crooked like a warped pretzel, while on the black you had all the criminals and corrupt judges, District Attorneys, and the cops who accepted bribes left and right, and while Batman occasionally came after her, she knew he wouldn't go too far, though she did know she needed to be careful.

She and Bruce may share a connection and she might love him and he loved her in turn, but that didn't mean he was afraid to try to put her in prison for being a cat burglar. When Bruce had returned from overseas - she still resented him for not taking her with him; yeah, she could understand his desires to keep her safe because he had a nasty habit of blaming himself if things happened to the people he cared about, but she just wished he had a bit more faith - and had become Batman, Selina had learnt the hard way that just because they had a history did not mean she would get off easily.

As a result, she was having to move carefully and quietly above the rooftops slowly so if Batman was nearby, she would know it quickly. The Bat-signal was lit and it bathed the city of Gotham in the shadow of Batman's symbol. Selina knew that Batman and Gordon shared other means of communication, the signal being lit like that was to remind everyone of the alliance between Gordon and Batman.

Unfortunately, the symbol being lit right now and the last few nights told her one thing; Bruce was cracking down hard on Gotham.

Anyway, Selina had just landed on a rooftop and carefully looked around, listening closely for the tell-tale sounds of a cape rustling in the wind. She hated the necessity of running around Gotham like this especially since under normal circumstances she would have been able to reach her target easily enough, but recently Batman had been cracking down hard on the underworld, and she did not want to be caught in his line of sight although Riddler and Joker had been. Usually when Batman was content with his more relaxed patrols, if you could call them that, then he was approachable for a chase across the rooftops or some light conversation, or maybe even a bit of sex, or she might let him spoil a burglary deliberately. But when he was like this, it was best to avoid him. She had nearly been arrested the first few times, and she had learnt from the mistake of getting too close to him. At the same time, she had learnt to ensure she had enough cash to live on while he was in this mindset.

Unfortunately, sometimes she didn't have enough, and this was one of them. Things had been tight for Selina recently, and she'd had no choice but to make her way out into the city with a Batman who would want to get her locked up as soon as he could lay his hands on her.

Selina was soon reassured when she found there was no sign of Batman on the rooftop, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel that she recognised this particular rooftop… _Don't be stupid, _she chided herself. _I've practically been around every single rooftop in this city since I was old enough to leap long distances…. Hang, on, there is something about this rooftop…_

Selina looked around the rooftop slowly, looking around in confusion until she caught sight of the skyline. Her eyes crinkled in confusion slightly as she looked closely at it. The view was slightly different, but it nagged a corner of her memory, but there was something there. Something about the way the nearby lights shone… Suddenly a smile crept along Selina's full lips as she remembered that time when she had been a kid, long ago in those days where there wasn't a Batman in Gotham, and the city hadn't nearly been destroyed by that fucking earthquake, and she had vowed one day to steal all the lights in the city which she had likened to both the stars in space, and diamonds that she could just reach out and take. She smiled at the sight of the buildings that were there; much of the skyline was completely different from back then, of course, but that was due to the earthquake which very nearly destroyed the city. A large amount of the city had been rebuilt during that time, and architects and builders had taken the opportunity to preserve the buildings they felt could be saved while demolishing those they felt had no chance of recovery from the quake, and they'd taken the opportunity to put in new buildings in their former place.

Selina and other cat burglars had adapted to the change easily enough, but looking out over the vastly new skyline, Catwoman couldn't help but smirk as she remembered how she had vowed to steal all of the diamonds held in the city. And yet, looking out at the changed skyline which was vastly similar and yet vastly different from the one she had made the promise to as a girl, which made her feel nostalgic. She felt she had come a long way from that little street thief she had once been; yeah, without those days she would never have reached the level she was at now, but back then she had striven for more, and now she had it.

Looking out at the buildings, with their differences in height compared to what she knew, Selina thought about the vow she had made as a kid, and she thought about how far she had come. Still, a long way to go, but she knew she would eventually get there, given time and patience. A part of Catwoman wanted to sit down and keep looking out over the city and admire the view, but she knew it wasn't a good idea if she wanted to keep moving since she knew Bruce could be on the lookout for her.

With that in mind, Selina made another vow.

_I will never get caught. _


End file.
